


Playing Cupid

by The_Fizz



Category: Persona 4
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Matchmaking, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-01
Updated: 2020-10-17
Packaged: 2021-03-07 19:13:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,290
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26752642
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Fizz/pseuds/The_Fizz
Summary: Chie and Yu decide to help Kanji and Naoto get together.
Relationships: Narukami Yu/Satonaka Chie, Shirogane Naoto/Tatsumi Kanji
Comments: 5
Kudos: 31





	1. Before the Storm

Yu Narukami didn't know how he got so lucky.

As he sat on the roof of Yasogami High, he felt an incredible amount of relief at finishing his midterms, and even felt like he may have aced them. He had attempted to help his girlfriend, Chie Satonaka, study for her tests as well, but there was only so much he could do. They didn’t have every class together, and he only had so much time to spend with her at the school library for study sessions after school. For this reason, she saw fit to have an energy drink fuelled all-nighter the night before midterms, and the consequences of her actions were catching up to her. She was crashing, and she was crashing  _ hard _ . She had passed out with her head resting on Yu’s lap, and even if he had wanted to move he found himself unable to. Luckily for her, he was perfectly content to just let her rest, as he gently ran his fingers through her hair. Yu felt like he was truly at peace in the moment, and that nothing could disturb them.

And then, the door to the roof slammed open.

Yu turned quickly to look at the source of the noise, as Chie gave a tired sounding “whuzzat?” without moving from her resting place. Kanji emerged from the doorway, looking uncharacteristically worried and conflicted. After a moment, he noticed the two of them at the other side of the roof.

“Oh, it’s you guys. What’re you doing up here?” asked Kanji, a slight frown on his lips.

“We came up here to relax after finishing our midterms. What about you?” Yu replied.

“Uhhh, something like that, I guess.” Kanji’s answer seemed hollow, earning him a raised eyebrow from Yu. “Look, enough about me. What’s the deal with you two? You’re getting a bit more touchy-feely than most friends get.”

“Tha’s ‘cause we’re more than friends, Kanji-kun!” replied Chie with a giggle, still not moving from Yu’s lap. This surprised Yu, as she had always said she wanted to keep their relationship secret. (He remembered her reasoning being along the lines of “If Yosuke finds out, there’ll be no end to the teasing from him! And if Rise finds out, she might try to kill me!”) Evidently, her lack of sleep had clouded her judgement, and she had let slip the existence of their relationship.

“You’re WHAT?” exclaimed Kanji, shock in his voice. “Well actually a lot of things make sense in hindsight now,” Kanji continued, the shock from before quickly fading, “I really should've seen this one coming.”

“Well, now you know our big secret. Mind letting us in on the real reason you’re up here?” Yu asked inquisitively.

“I just don’t f- wait.” Kanji started, cutting himself off. “You guys might actually be able to help me! This is awesome, senpai!”

“I don’t think she’s in any state to help anybody.” replied Yu, earning a grumble of protest from a still groggy Chie. “But what’s your problem?

“It’s- It's Naoto.” mumbled Kanji, a light red dusting his cheeks as he sat next to the couple. “I- I want to ask her out, but I don’t know how. I came up here to think about it, but now I can get advice from you guys!”

Yu was taken aback by this. He had known for a while that Kanji was interested in Naoto, since before Kanji even knew who Yu was. But to see Kanji actually trying to act on his feelings was surprising, as he had long been trying, somewhat unsuccessfully, to keep it a secret from everyone. Yu blinked at Kanji before replying.

“Well I’d love to help, but I don’t see how this involves me at all. I’m not going to ask her out for you, if that’s what you had in mind.”

“What? No, nothing like that.” retorted Kanji. “I just want some advice, I guess. Like, how did you ask out Chie-senpai?”

“Oh, it was so romantic!” replied Chie, finally raising herself from Yu’s lap, a sparkle in her eyes replacing her precious tiredness. “There were these punks bullying some neighborhood kids, and we beat the crap out of ‘em together, and after they ran off Yu-kun asked if I wanted to be his girlfriend, and the rest is history!” Chie then sat there, smiling to herself as she remembered that day.

Noticing Kanji becoming visibly excited, Yu felt the need to stop him from getting overzealous, telling him “This was a very specific set of circumstances, and I don’t recommend you go beat on some biker gang to prove your love to Naoto.”

“Then what should I do, damnit? Beating up street punks is easy enough, but talking to Naoto about this is hard!”

“Y’know you could just ask her out normally, right?” said Chie. “You don’t need some grand gesture, just ask her if she wants to go to the movies. How hard can it be?”

“Easy for you to say! You’re not the one that did the asking out! I bet Senpai was really nervous when he asked you out, right Senpai?” Kanji asked, a twinge of desperation audible in his voice.

“I mean, I was kinda nervous, but it wasn’t as bad as you seem to think it’ll be.” said Yu reassuringly.

“Alright, I’m gonna do it!” Kanji’s voice was now brimming with a newfound confidence. “Chie-senpai, you said to ask her to the movies, right?”   
  


“Yeah, but I was just saying the first thing I thought of, you don’t have t-”

“Alright, movies it is then!” Kanji exclaimed, cutting Chie off mid-sentence. “I’m gonna do it, I’m gonna do it right now!” Kanji then ran off, leaving Chie and Yu alone again on the rooftop.

As the door to the rooftop closed behind Kanji, Chie turned to Yu, asking “We’re gonna go after him, right?” Yu nodded, and the two set off after Kanji. They hadn’t even made it out of the staircase before seeing Kanji again, leaning against a wall and scared out of his mind.

“I can’t do it senpai. I can’t.”

“Man, you’ve got it for her  _ bad _ , huh?” Chie remarked.

“You don’t have to do it right now, you know?” Yu said, concerned. “We can help you get ready, and you can shoot your shot when you feel more confident.”

“You’d really do that for me? You’re the man, senpai!” Kanji exclaimed. “What’re we waiting for then? I could use some advice from you guys.”

“Ooh ooh! Me, let’s talk at my place!” Chie said excitedly. The boys agreed with Chie’s proposal, and headed to her house to help Kanji.

Chie had a dog, named Muku. Similar to Chie, Muku was extremely energetic, and quite strong to boot. When the dog heard Chie’s key in the lock, he sprinted towards the entrance at full speed, knocking Yu to the ground as soon as the door opened. It took the strength of both Chie and Kanji to pull the dog off of him, leaving Yu’s face a mess of dog saliva. After washing up, Yu joined Chie and Kanji in her room to assist Kanji in his endeavor.

Once inside, Yu sat next to Chie on her bed, while Kanji leaned against the wall next to them. Chie’s room was similar to the room of many high school girls, with a few key differences. Where most would have posters of their favorite boy bands or idol groups, Chie had posters of her favorite kung-fu flicks. Instead of keeping her clothes in a closet, she had them piled up on a chair in the corner. She did have a closet though, and when Yu looked inside he wasn’t all that surprised to see a well used punching bag hanging from the ceiling, with the boots she used in battle laying on the floor.

Yu was the first to speak. “So, what else can we really do for you? We already gave you some advice, and I’m still not asking her out  _ for _ you.”

“Well uhhh, how about you tell me about you guys’s first date? Y’know, so i know what to expect.”

Yu frowned thoughtfully. “Our first ‘date’, if you can really call it that, was a training session in the park, right after we scared off those bullies. But our first date that didn’t involve Chie practicing her kicks was a movie, some horror flick.” Yu smiled to himself as he remembered it. “She’s pretty cute when she’s scared.”

Chie’s face turned red with embarrassment, both at being called cute and at the fact that a horror movie had scared her so much. “I- I wasn’t  _ that _ scared!”

“Your knuckles were turning white with how hard you were holding my arm.” Yu chuckled. “You even hid your face in my chest a few times at the bigger scares.”

Chie’s face turned an even deeper shade of scarlet, and her voice seemed to go up an octave. “Th- that was just-” She was sputtering, trying to find any words that could save her dignity.

“Alright, so a horror movie then.” Kanji stated bluntly, seemingly ignoring Chie’s struggles. “Naoto doesn’t seem like she’d get too scared of that kinda stuff. This’ll work great, thanks Senpai!” Kanji moved as if to leave, but then stopped. “Oh one more thing. How do I not… y’know, chicken out again?”

“Ooh, I’ve got this one!” Chie started. “Just remember this quote: ‘ _ Don’t think, feel. _ ’ Keep that in mind, and you’ll have no trouble at all!”

“ _ Don’t think, feel... Don’t think, feel… _ ” Kanji repeated the quote to himself several times under his breath before continuing. “So I should just go for it without worrying about what she says?”

“See? You got this! Just go for it so fast you don’t even have a chance to doubt yourself!” Chie’s voice was full of encouragement for Kanji, it was evident that she genuinely wished Kanji the best in this endeavor.

“Gotcha! Then I better go fast before I start doubting myself again. You guys think she’s still at school?”

Yu looked down at his watch. “Unless she’s part of one of the clubs, she’s probably gone home by now. You’ll have to wait until tomorrow.” Yu turned his gaze towards the window. It had gotten significantly darker since they arrived at Chie’s house, with some stars starting to appear in the sky above. “We should probably get going too. Uncle Dojima doesn’t like me staying out so late.”

Kanji hadn’t even realized how much time had passed. It felt like mere minutes ago that he had run into the couple on the roof, not several hours. With this revelation, the boys started to leave Chie’s house. They got their bags and shoes, and made their way back to their respective homes, with Chie giving Yu a goodbye kiss when she was certain that Kanji wasn’t looking.

As he walked home, Kanji looked up at the night sky. He didn’t know what tomorrow had in store for him, let alone the rest of the future, but he had a strange feeling that everything would be alright. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> wow my first fic posted! i plan on making more chapters, but don't expect anything too soon cause i write slow as all hell. anyway feedback appreciated!


	2. Preparation is Key

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kanji shoots his shot, while Yu and Chie come up with another way to help him.

It was a brisk and rainy October day on Friday, and Kanji had never been so nervous in his life.

Well, maybe that wasn’t entirely true. Kanji had feared for his life before, when he was stuck in the TV world, but this was a different type of nervousness, a feeling that was alien to him. As anxious thoughts bounced around in his head, he thought back to the advice given to him by Chie:

_ Don’t think, feel. _

_ “Easy for you to say.”  _ Kanji thought to himself.  _ “You’re not the one who has to go through with this.” _

The last bell of the day rang, and Kanji could put it off no longer. He left the classroom, and as he started walking towards the exit, he saw Naoto also leave her class. It was at this moment that he decided he would follow Chie’s advice. He wouldn’t put it off any longer, he had a chance right now, and he was going to take it. Checking himself in a classroom window to make sure he was presentable, he made his way over to Naoto, trying to look as calm as possible, taking a considerable amount of effort.

“Uhh, hey Naoto-kun. Mind if I ask you something?”

Naoto stopped and turned to Kanji, an interested look on her face. “And what is it you wish to know?” Her voice was cold, almost professional. This didn’t help Kanji’s nerves in the slightest, but he continued.

“Do you, uhh… Do you have any plans this weekend?”

Naoto’s face softened, evidently she wasn’t expecting anything like this. “I don’t have any previous obligations, no. Why do you ask?”

“Well I was thinking, that maybe… maybe you would be able to see a movie with me?” A deep blush spread across Kanji’s cheeks as he finished the question.

Naoto’s face turned red too as she realized what was being asked of her, another twist in the conversation that she had not expected at all. “I- I suppose I would be able to join you for a movie. I’m free after school on Saturday. Does that work?”

Fireworks started going off in Kanji’s head, as he thought to himself  _ “This might actually be happening!”  _ Kanji made an attempt to quickly calm himself before continuing. “Yeah, that works fine! I’ll see you then!” before leaving the school building, grinning ear to ear.

Kanji’s mind was racing, and his heart was pounding out of his chest as he walked home. He had actually done it, he had asked Naoto out. Not only that, but she had actually said yes! He was so preoccupied with everything that had just happened that he almost didn’t hear the “Yo, Kanji-kun!” that came from next to him. As he turned to look at the source of the noise, he saw Chie and Yu, both sitting at Aiya’s Chinese diner, attempting to eat beef bowls the size of their heads. Chie was waving him down, motioning for Kanji to join them in the restaurant. Kanji obliged them, sitting at a chair beside their booth.

“Soooooo, how’d it go?” Chie asked in a curious tone, tearing herself away from her beef bowl.

“Well, I followed the advice you gave me, that whole  _ ‘Don’t think, feel.’  _ thing”

“And?” Chie leaned forward in her chair, Yu did the same”

A grin spread across Kanji’s face again as he continued. “It’s a date!”

Cheers and congratulations came from both Chie and Yu, with Yu standing up to give Kanji a celebratory hug. As the moment passed and Yu sat back down, he asked “So what are you guys doing?”

“Oh nothing too fancy, just going into Okina to see a movie. They’ve got this new horror flick out, figured I would follow the advice you guys gave me.”

“This sounds great Kanji-kun!” Chie was beaming. “You’re gonna have so much fun!”

“Thanks guys.” Kanji said sheepishly. “I uhh, I couldn’t have done this without you two.”

“It was nothing.” Yu said with a slight smile. “All we did was give a bit of advice. You did all the heavy lifting.”

“Yeah, but still, you guys helped!” Kanji retorted, before a shocked look appeared on his face. “Oh man, I’ve gotta get ready for tomorrow. See you guys later!” Kanji bolted to the exit, leaving Chie and Yu alone in the diner again.

“You think he’s gonna be okay?” Chie asked as she started working on her beef bowl again.

Yu frowned thoughtfully. “I hope so, but I don’t know how Kanji will do on an actual date. Plus, his experiences with women in the past haven’t exactly been great.”

“Sho what are you shaying?” Chie asked through a mouthful of meat.

“I think he still needs help.” Yu continued. “But Kanji’s a pretty prideful guy. I don’t think he’s going to accept any more help from us outright. We’re going to have to be sneaky about this.” A slight grin formed on Yu’s lips.

“What, you wanna spy on their date? Don’t you think that's weird?”

“They’re not even going to notice us. We just tail them around, and if there’s a moment when our help would be needed, we can act like we just ran into them.”

“I don’t think you’re giving either of them enough credit.” Chie’s voice was doubtful. “Naoto’s a detective, she’s gonna notice if she’s being tailed. And I think Kanji will figure out something’s up if we run into him on his date after he told us about it.”

Yu nodded in agreement before looking down at his beef bowl thoughtfully. It took a moment before realization struck him. “They won’t think anything’s up if they don’t know it’s us.”

Seeing the intensely confused look on Chie’s face, Yu elaborated. “We can wear disguises so they don't recognize us, it’s perfect!”

At the mention of disguises, Chie’s face lit up. “Ohoho! Like we’re in a spy movie! We can protect the VIP from a bunch of evildoers with our kung-fu skills!” Chie was fully on board with the idea now, but realized one small problem. “What disguises? It’s not like we can just wear those joke glasses Teddie made us.”

“Let’s go to the outlets in Okina. They’ve got some outfits there that could make us look unrecognizable.” Yu answered. And with that, they paid for their meals, having failed to finish the mega beef bowl challenge once again, and made off for Okina City on their scooters.

If they wanted to look nothing like themselves, they had certainly gone to the right place. Everything in the girl’s side of the store was blinding shades of pink and purple, colors that Chie felt didn’t suit her at all. Additionally, the cuts on most of the clothes went a bit too deep around the neckline for her taste. If it was any condolence to her, Yu wasn’t having much luck either. Yu felt most comfortable in simple, monochrome outfits. This place didn’t seem to know the meaning of “simple”, with garish shirts adorned with rhinestones and pants in every animal fur pattern under the sun. It was all clothes that neither of them would ever wear in day to day life, so it was perfect for what they had in mind. They both grabbed clothing that vaguely resembled coherent outfits, and headed into the changing rooms.

Yu was first out. He had gotten leopard print pants and a bright red dress shirt, alongside a pair of sunglasses and a gold necklace. If it weren’t for the fact that he was clearly in high school, he would be easily mistaken for a mid level yakuza. “The worst part of this outfit” Yu thought to himself as he looked at it in a mirror, “is that it’s actually growing on me a bit.”

Before Yu could fool himself into actually liking the mess of an outfit, Chie came out of the other dressing room. Her outfit was far more coherent, but still nothing like what she wore on a normal day. It featured a deep-V dress, colored a bright purple and somewhat glossy. The bottom of the dress went down slightly past her knees, where it met a pair of black socks she had gotten. On top, she had gotten a straw hat with a ribbon of matching purple around the brim.

After staring at each other in stunned silence for a few seconds, both Chie and Yu started pointing and laughing at the ridiculous outfits both of them were wearing. Chie found the leopard print pants especially funny, while Yu teased Chie for wearing an actual dress. After recovering from laughing fits that rivaled Yukiko’s, the both of them paid for their outfits and headed back to Inaba, once again in clothes they actually felt comfortable in.

Once back in Inaba, the couple went over the plan. They would tail Kanji and Naoto in disguise, making sure everything went smoothly for them, only interfering directly if absolutely necessary. If all went well, Kanji and Naoto wouldn’t even know they had been followed. Before Yu could say goodbye to his lover, his phone rang. He looked down at the small screen, and saw a message from his uncle Dojima. The message read as follows:

“WILL BE HOME LATE TODAY. TAKE CARE OF NANAKO, I LEFT A STEAK IN THE FRIDGE FOR YOU TO COOK WHEN YOU'RE HUNGRY.”

After a brief period of time, Yu received another message, containing only two words: "sorry caps." Chie, upon learning that Yu had a steak in his fridge, practically begged him to let her come over for dinner.

"C'mon, you would really keep that meal from someone this cute?" Chie said with a pout on her lips.

"I'm not opposed to it, but would your folks be alright with it? And what about Nanako?" Yu questioned her.

"I can just tell my parents I'm with Yukiko. I've stayed over late at her place before plenty of times, so they're used to it. And why would Nanako bother me?"

"Well, I thought you wanted to keep…  _ us  _ a secret? Nanako isn't dumb, if she sees us get too close she's going to figure out something's up."

Chie stopped to think for a second before continuing. "So? It's not like she'll blab to the rest of the gang. Nanako's cool like that."

"If you say so." Yu said with a slight smile, looking forward to continuing the night with his girlfriend. "Well, we should get going. I'm going to cook us a fine steak dinner."

At these words, Chie leapt up to plant a kiss on her boyfriend's cheek, before taking his hand in hers and starting the walk to his house. Even though they had been together for a few months, she had only ever been to his home once. And even then, she wasn't over for long, just to relax for a bit after they had a sparring session in the park. This would be the first time she actually spent a good amount of time at his house.

Chie was so swept up in these thoughts that she didn't even notice that they had arrived. Yu turned his key in the door, and announced that he was home. Almost instantly there was a response from Nanako.

"Welcome home big b-" Nanako cut herself off before she could finish, noticing Chie in the doorway too. "Oh, Chie's here too!" Nanako continued, excitement in her voice.

"Hey Nanako-chan! I heard that your dad had a steak waiting in the fridge, so your big bro offered to cook it up for us!"

"Wow, you're so nice to Chie, big bro!"

Yu nodded, chuckling. "I certainly try to be. It'll take me a little while to cook it up, why don't you two get comfortable?"

At these words, the two girls went out into the living room, while Yu started work in the kitchen. Just as he slapped the slab of beef into the skillet, he heard a commotion from the room next door.

"Hey Chie?" Nanako started to ask. "Are you and big bro together?"

At these words Chie became a blushing mess. It was clear that she wasn't quite as cool with Nanako knowing about their relationship as she had let on earlier. As she stumbled and stuttered, looking for an answer to the question, her savior yelled from the kitchen. "You got it, Nanako!"

Logically, Chie knew this is what she was signing up for when she came over. But actually having to deal with it was something she was ill-prepared for. At this moment, she would love nothing more than to crawl into a hole, away from all these prying questions. However, when Yu flipped the steak, and the sizzling sound of a searing steak filled the house, she was reminded what she came here for.

"Wow! So you and big bro must be really close then! You guys have gotta sing and dance all the time together!"

Chie couldn't help but laugh at Nanako's juvenile idea of what a relationship is like. Her laughter, however, quickly turned to a gasp as Yu entered the room. In his arms were three plates, each containing beautifully seared steaks, alongside some fragrant fried rice. He sat the meals down on the table, and beckoned both of the girls to join him.

Seeing him walk into the room with the meat in hand, Chie thought she couldn't possibly love him any more than she did in that moment. She was swiftly proven wrong upon taking her first bite of the steak, which was beautifully seasoned, and cooked to perfection. She felt she might just melt away from the sheer joy she felt while eating the meal.

"Wow big bro, this is really good!" Nanako complimented him. Yu thanked her, and took the small moans from Chie in-between her bites to be better than any proper thanks. Before any of them knew it, their plates were empty, devoured in a matter of just a few minutes. As Chie finished the last bit of her fried rice, she leaned back and exhaled heavily, coming to the realization that this was the second time today she had had beef and rice as a meal. She didn't mind though, as the second time was even better than the first.

Realizing that it had gotten quite dark out, Chie thought it best to head back home. Yu offered to walk her back home, which she took him up on. As they walked to Chie's house, hand in hand, they felt completely at peace, ready to take on the tasks of tomorrow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> FINALLY chapter 2. i had this like 80% done just sitting in my google docs for like a week trying to get the energy to finish it lol. anyways thank you guys for the positive feedback on chapter 1! chapter 3 is happening but i have no idea when lmao. stay safe!


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